OT -- WIndows XP Tweaks

[Lazarus]

WARNING: A lot of these tweaks are in the registry. Before doing anything to your registry ALWAYS save a backup.
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Disable XP Messenging:
By Default: XP allows windows to recieve messages from other XP users. This is very annoying once you start to see how many you can get in one day popping up all the time. To disable this:

Go to: Control Panel>Adminstrative Tools>Services, scroll down the list of services to Messenger. Right click on Messenger>Properties. Here you can Disable Messenging, and Stop the immediate process.

Deleting AVI Files:
Ever notice sometimes when deleting an avi file, that XP holds onto the file and gives and error something like, "Other programs are using this file, cannot delete at this time." You can avoid this annoying feature by doing the following.

Remove the following registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID{87D62D94-71B3-4b9a-9489-5FE6850DC73E}\InProcServer32

This will prevent Explorer from loading shmedia.dll in response to file property queries on these files. Just an extra note, if you do a "search" for this key it will not be found, look for it manually it is very easy to find.

Faster Bootups:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters]
"EnablePrefetcher"=dword:00000001

Increase BROADBAND for XP Pro only:
This is for broad band connections. I didn’t try it on dial up but might work for dial up.
1.make sure your logged on as actually "Administrator". do not log on with any account that just has administrator privileges.
2. start - run - type gpedit.msc
3. expand the "local computer policy" branch
4. expand the "administrative templates" branch
5. expand the "network branch"
6. Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left window
7. in right window double click the "limit reservable bandwidth" setting
8. on setting tab check the "enabled" item
9. where it says "Bandwidth limit %" change it to read 0
reboot if you want to but not necessary on some systems your all done. Effect is immediate on some systems. some need re-boot. I have one machine that needs to reboot first, the others didn't. Don't know why this is.

This is more of a "counter what XP does" thing. In other words, XP seems to want to reserve 20% of the bandwidth for its self. Even with QoS disabled, even when this item is disabled. So why not use it to your advantage.

MPEG Fix:
Ever notice when playing mpg files, that the time listed in your media player doesn't match the time of the mpg movie. This will fix that.

There are two ways to remove the MPEG DirectShow decoder, in both cases you need to find the following files:

- mcdsmpeg.ax
- mcspmpeg.ax

They should be in the Windows system folder in Win9x (and possibly WinME) or the Windows system32 folder in WinNT, Win2K and WinXP.

METHOD 1 (the more correct way):

- Open a Command Prompt window and change to the folder where the above files are located

- Execute the following commands:

regsvr32 /u mcdsmpeg.ax
regsvr32 /u mcspmpeg.ax

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NOTE: YOU ONLY NEED TO REMOVE THE .AX FILES. YOUR COMPUTER WILL REINSTALL DEFAULT .AX FILES AUTOMATICALLY WHEN YOU OPEN AN MPEG1 FILE.]
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- the decoder can then be re-installed by executing these commands:

regsvr32 mcdsmpeg.ax
regsvr32 mcspmpeg.ax

METHOD 2:

- Simply rename the mcdsmpeg.ax and mcspmpeg.ax files to mcdsmpeg.old and mcspmpeg.old (or something like that)

- The decoder can then be re-installed by renaming the files back to the .ax extensions.

NTFS Performance Tweak:
* By default NTFS will automatically update timestamps whenver a directory is traversed. This isn't a necessary feature, and it slows down large volumes.

Disable it by pointing regedit to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem and set 'DisableNTFSLastAccessUpdate' to 1.

* NTFS uses disparate master file control tables to store filesystem information about your drives. Over time these core MFT files grow and become fragmented, slowing down all accesses to the drive. By setting aside a little space, MFT's can grow without becoming fragmented. In the same key where you disabled the last access feature creat a new DWORD value called 'NtfsMftZoneReservation' and set it to 2.

Note: This tweak will not work on FAT32 file systems!

Another thing is:
Blocking the building of short filenames:

By setting up long filenames on NTFS, windows is
also building a short filename in 8.3 notation.

If you set the value
NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation in key
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\FileSystem to
0x01, you can block this.

Open links in new browser window:
IE>Tools> Internet Options> Advanced. Under "Browsing" Uncheck "Reuse windows for launching shortcuts".

Saving Settings for Multi-Accounts:
If you have XP and are using several user accounts, these settings helps XP save the settings properly on the Accounts that are not Administrator. Do Not Use This If You Have A Single Account.

Use in main Admin account. Try Safe Mode if 1st fix doesn't take.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoSaveSettings"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Group Policy Objects\LocalUser\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoSaveSettings"=dword:00000000

Desktop Icon Shortcut Arrow Removal:

1. Start regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\lnkfile
3. Delete the IsShortcut registry value.

You may need to restart Windows XP.

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There are a lot more tweaks for XP on the net, but I found these to be sufficiant. Enjoy.

[triniphen]

more goodies

http://www.tweakxp.com/

[Lazarus]

bump

[Gumdrop]

Some great stuff in here guys. Cheers.